I interviewed with the one of the Co-Founder's brothers. The interview was designed to be open ended-- with little direct questions ; but it was clear he was using the interview process to figure out what he can expect from this role since this is the first HR hire.
He was polite but not kind at all. His disposition was frosty at best. Very surface level interaction and very smug, wearing a disingenuous smile the entire time. Was not willing to give any insight to his organization or himself. I tried to have small talk in order to connect and he wouldn't have any of it. He left 1 minute at the end of the interview to ask questions. After asking my one question, I felt he used the response to attempt to insult me subtly and then ended the interview.
While he may have attempted to treat the interview like a conversation, the only direct question was about performance management and fishing for understanding on what is needed for this process and how to set up this particular HR function.
This is the first interview where I wanted to abort the interview in the middle of the process due to his lack of interest in building rapport and demonstrating interpersonal skills ; yet I reminded myself that I am also interviewing this company so, I chose to complete it as to not insult the interviewer. However, based on my experience, I would not hold this leadership or organization in high regard. This interaction with this cofounder felt very devaluing; I got a glimpse of what daily interaction would feel like. You will feel like a tool, not a respectable human being.
Very toxic culture brewing slowly. proceed with the upmost caution.